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History
The Company History of the Business Unit Technical Adhesive Tapes

Our company can look back on a company history dating back to the 1920s. At that time. the family’s 25-year-old son Fritz Müller founded the company “Fritz Müller Elektroisoliermaterial” in Wuppertal. With a loan of 6,000 Reichsmark, courage, and conviction, he paved the way for today’s Coroplast Group and its subsidiary brands Coroplast Tape, Coroflex, and WeWire.

1930–1950
Founding of the company and reconstruction

The early years were marked by ups and downs for the young company. In 1929, the world economic crisis was mastered with courage and conviction. In the mid-1930s, a promising thermoplastic material was launched on market: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the foundation for adhesive tapes as we know them today. Fritz Müller recognized the potential of this novel material and began to process it. However, production came to a standstill due to the Second World War; the plant in Wuppertal was destroyed, and the company had to start anew in 1945.

After the introduction of the new company name, Coroplast, its triumphant progress started with reconstruction and the German “economic miracle” (Miracle on the Rhine). The Wuppertal company also took a strong part in the general optimistic mood thanks to research into adhesives and plastic as well as thanks to the continuous expansion of its production and distribution networks.

The Coroplast factory site in Wuppertal in 1968

1950–1980
From PVC and acrylate adhesive to the first cable winding tape

Coroplast already placed great value on its own research and laboratory work at that time. For example, plastic compounds were developed: adhesives were combined with PVC and numerous types of insulating tape, anti-corrosion bindings, and multi-purpose adhesive tapes were created. At the beginning of the 1960s, Coroplast introduced a new type of acrylate adhesive that is solvent-free and therefore environmentally friendly. In 1980, the first OEM approval for the PVC cable winding tape paved the way for the successful entry of Coroplast adhesive tapes into the automobile industry. Innovation was accompanied by expansion – a new building and additional, more efficient machinery enhanced the Wuppertal plant.

1980–2010
Coroplast Tape worldwide

With the appointment of Dr. Kurt Müller to the management board, the success of Coroplast adhesive tapes experienced further growth. For example, Coroplast significantly expanded its product range in the 1970s – and not only in Germany. In 1994, the internationalization of Coroplast began, and in 2004, the Business Unit Technical Adhesive Tapes opened its first production site in Taicang, China.

Dr. Kurt Müller’s formative influence continues to have its effects to this day.

2010 to today
BPA, USA, and Kunshan

The last decade was marked by three major events for Coroplast Tape. In 2014, Wuppertal celebrated the “Grand Opening” of its competence center for technical adhesive tapes. The centerpiece of the new building is an internally developed adhesive tape coating system (BPA). In 2015, the company crossed the Atlantic: The American market is supplied from the Rock Hill production site in South Carolina with tried-and-tested adhesive tapes made in Germany and with numerous special applications for special requirements on site. Since 2017, tapes have also been developed, produced, and distributed at the Kunshan site of Coroplast Tape Technology in China. In 2020, Coroplast’s former Technical Adhesive Tapes, Wires & Cables, and Wire Harnesses Business Units were split into separate brands, which function under the umbrella of Coroplast Group. In addition to Coroplast Tape, Coroflex and WeWire were created.

The Coroplast Competence Center for Technical Adhesive Tapes at its “Grand Opening” in 2014